The Role of our Advocate

Good day

We continue with the first Epistle of John.

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” (1 John 2:1-2).

We have heard last time that no one is without sin and that there are many sins that we refuse to acknowledge, and therefore do not confess as we are instructed to do. We even sin wilfully for we know we are able to simply confess our sins and then reckon it is easy – live as you like as long as you just confess your sin. But what is the reality? Why do we not have the power the apostles had. We read in Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” and in Philippians 2:12, 13: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.

According to 1 John 2:2 above Jesus is our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice, as well as our Advocate when we sin. Our sins are forgiven by Jesus’ death on the cross as far as Father God is concerned. Jesus therefore covers for us when the wrath of God should be poured out on sin as it has happened so many times in the Old Testament. Should we therefore do as Paul stated in Romans 6:1: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” He answers as follows: “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

Father God gave Jesus the highest authority (Philippians 2:9-11), and although we are made right with the Father, we should continually work with the Holy Spirit to align with Jesus’ commands throughout the New Testament (John 14:21, 23). If it were not so, the Bible should have ended at the end of the Gospels and Jesus would have wasted His breath teaching us.

Apart from being our Advocate, Jesus has another role. When we break the laws of the country, we are disciplined, are we not? If we do not feel the consequences when we do not listen, how will we know to comply? Therefore we are told in Hebrews 12:3-6: “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’”

 The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12 above) as well as discipline through our circumstances (Hebrews 12:3-6 above), to work in us (Philippians 2:12, 13 above) and form us to align with Jesus’ expectations.

How would you have felt (or maybe you know what I am talking about) when you have suffered much and have given everything to develop your children. Maybe you have built up an interest in which you hoped your children will share, preparing the way for them to succeed in this interest. But some of them are aloof and uninterested and the others ruin your interest by their selfish behaviour. How would you react? Would you not take disciplinary steps to save both your interest and your children’s future?

To Jesus the road towards bringing us salvation was not an easy one. Apart from the physical sacrifice on the cross He put a lot of energy and time into serving the needs of people and teaching, as well as suffering much persecution and ridicule for what He was doing. Our salvation cost Him a HUGE price and He was not going to just let us take it lightly. He has to bring us in line with His will through discipline.

If we continually refuse to acknowledge sin, repent of it and do something about it, He has to create consequences for our behaviour because He loves us. Then we ask why life is so hard – we bring it on ourselves.

I have attended many different church services in my life and have listened to many radio and television messages, and very seldom do I hear messages about sin and discipline. Lately the trend tends to be the love of God and sensations of His manifestation. Are we not deceiving one another?

We read in Jeremiah 9:23-24: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’”

Note that the Lord does not only practice love, but also justice and righteousness.

Lord, please make me aware of sin that would prevent an abundant life for me with you, for you do not go along with sin and must deal with it.

I sincerely hope you are ready for what is coming next.

Subtle Danger

Good day

We continue with the first Epistle of John.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us,” (1 John 1:8-10).

What is sin? One thing we must be very weary of, and that is to underestimate the enemy of our souls - Satan. The Bible says he “transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), that he comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10), and that “he was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it”, (John 8:44).

 

What is it Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy? Is it not our abundant life that Jesus came to give? What abundant life is Jesus talking about? Is it lots of money, a smart car, a mansion for a house and materially successful children, or fullness in Christ on earth and a treasure in heaven? In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus told the parable of the rich man who extended his material riches and then concluded with these words: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” In the same way Jesus speaks at various other places against riches.

Sin in essence is disobedience. Therefore, if Jesus speaks against something and we still do it, don’t we sin? This is where the subtlety of the lie comes in. These sins will not be confessed, for they are not seen as sin.

Why did the Lord not accept Cain’s sacrifice back in Genesis 4? “So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it,’” (Genesis 4:6-8). He simply did not do his best and it was considered to be sin. He was given opportunity to repent, but instead chose to take revenge.

We need to be wary of the subtlety of Satan’s lies. Many things, which we do not consider to be sin, we keep on doing, and in essence say that we do not sin. We are therefore lying and deceiving ourselves, as John put it above. For example those who disobey Jesus’ command on lusting in their thoughts after a woman, and therefore committing adultery with her, are quick to feel guilty and repent, but those who disobey His commands on living in riches for their own benefit, continue as if nothing is wrong and actually justify themselves with one single statement taken from the Bible – they say it is not money that is the root of evil, but the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10). Yet Jesus was quite outspoken on how money should be treated when He addressed the rich young man in Mark 10:17-22, the rich man in Luke 12:16-21 and in Matthew 19:23-24: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’”

I simply used money, God’s greatest enemy (Matthew 6:24), as an example of the subtlety of sin and the enemy’s lies. Sins like stealing and swearing are easily identified and confessed, but there are many sins that we do not see as sin and therefore deny we are sinning.

Many say that all our sins are forgiven because Jesus died for them, in other words that it is an automating process, which is one of the biggest lies aimed at robbing us from our peace and joy and abundant life in Jesus. If this were the case, why would John then have stressed the necessity to confess our sins?

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him,” (John 14:21). This includes all of the commands and not only the ones we have selected for our convenience.

Lord, please show us the sin we ignore.

Living in the Light

Good day

We continue with the first Epistle of John.

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin,” (1 John 1:5-7).

There is an idiom that says something like ‘we all have a skeleton in the closet’ and another one that says ‘you are standing behind the door yourself’ if you judge someone. These refer to the fact that we all have something to hide. When we are sinning secretly we become experts in hiding our actions from people. In my life I have been hiding a lot of things from people, but the Holy Spirit is slowly but surely succeeding in getting it through my thick scull that peace equals transparency.  

What do you have to hide? What conscious sin are you entertaining that those around you should not find out about? What is your motive for doing and saying what you do? Do you have ulterior motives which people should not really discover? What is happening behind the scenes of your life?

Satan and your carnal nature do want you to live in undercover sin – keeping you in darkness. Our passage, however, states that the Lord is light and therefore wherever He is present light is present, which drives out any darkness. It is therefore impossible to have deeds, motives, attitudes and thoughts that are hidden in darkness, and have complete fellowship with the Lord, in His power, at the same time. He simply does not fellowship with sin, selfish motives, and in general with our carnal nature at all. John said that when we say we do it, we lie.

We know we always sin, so are we therefore ever going to get into fellowship with the Lord God? That is where Jesus comes in. In Jesus we are made righteous before Father God, which causes Him to be able to share our presence, but let us have a look at Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life...”

You may choose to be an orphan Christian, keeping your distance from God, because you actually want to do your own thing. If, however, you desire to walk in fellowship with the Light who cannot fellowship with darkness, and if you wish to receive revelation of what He is like, you need to get rid of anything you need to hide from people – in other words you need to change. The Holy Spirit helps with this by working in your life, like we read in Philippians 2 and you need to work consciously with Him, aiming to get to a point where the Light of God has nothing in your life to reveal.

Then “we walk in the light, as he is in the light, (and) we have fellowship with one another.” This is where we experience true fellowship and not the kind of pretence we often find in social gatherings.

Interestingly enough 1 John 1:7 concludes with these words: “and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”. It seems that only when we live in the light as He is in the light, our sins will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We will be forgiven our sin every time we confess it, as stated in verse 9 later on, but to have fellowship with the light, we have to deal with continuous, conscious sin.

“Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way, (Psalm 139:23, 24 GNB). 

Eternal Life Manifested

Good day

We continue with the first Epistle of John.

1 John 1:1-4: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.”

This is really a mouthful. I had to read it a few times to grasp the reality of what John said here. What is it that the disciples, to whom John is referring here, have heard, seen and handled? John said it was concerning the Word of life, which he told us in the first chapter of his gospel, was Jesus.

We learn that it was from the beginning, was from the Father and was manifested to the disciples through the Word of life, namely Jesus Christ. Do you remember what happened right in the beginning in Genesis? Once Adam and Eve were created, the Lord gave them instructions and told them they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). We know that they messed it up for all of us, and in His resulting dealings with them in Genesis 3:22 “the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reaches out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever…’”

It would have been nice to know what history would have been like if Adam did not sin. What was the Lord’s initial intention with the man He created and had spent such intimate time with? Why was the tree of life in the garden?

We get a glimpse of Father’s eternal intention in our passage above. He had planned internal life with man from the beginning. That was the reason Jesus, the Word of life, was manifested to the disciples. But they did not only look upon it from a distance. They heard it, saw it, felt it, and handled it – they had a good taste of what eternal life was like. I am confident that if we were to ask one of them what it was like, words to describe it would be lacking.

As we read further in 1 John 1:3-4 we see: “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

What did John tell his readers of the time? He invited them to come and rub off from the disciples as they had rubbed off from Jesus, through whom eternal life from the Father had been manifested, and were still rubbing off from both Him and the Father through their constant fellowship. They tasted eternal life through the way Jesus lived and lived themselves like that, and everybody who followed their example tasted the same eternal life. The Father, by His grace, made the Holy Spirit and the living Word of God available to us, so we can rub off from them and have fellowship with them, and with those people we know who have discovered the same.

Dear reader, eternal life is not for one day. Eternal life is to live like Jesus lived. If you desire to know how He lived, simply read the New Testament asking the Holy Spirit for revelation.

Holy Spirit, please teach us eternal life, so our joy may be full?

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.